Portadown Festival's proud heritage spans 100 years of cross-community arts events

The milestone was marked with a special event in St Mark’s Church in the town, attended by many who have had an association with the festival down the years.

See special photo coverage from the centenary event here.

Throughout its proud history, Portadown Festival has given the opportunity for competitors to take their talents to the stage and has grown from its early days to the current 510 classes devoted to music, speech, drama, Irish Folk dancing, and dance.

This hugely popular cross-community arts event now attracts well over 8,200 festival competitors taking part in classes over 42 days during February to May each year.

It all began 100 years ago at the inaugural meeting of Portadown Musical Festival on May 30, 1922 in Portadown Town Hall. The meeting was convened by a young local doctor, Winifred Hadden, the aunt of the current president, Miss Rosalind Hadden.

The president appointed at that meeting was Major the Rt Hon DG Shillington DL MP and the chairman was Mr WM Clow JP, who was later to become High Sheriff of Armagh. Among the first vice presidents were Rt Hon Thomas Shillington, Privy Councillor and Charles Johnston, Deputy Lieutenant. There were also two Justice of the Peace, two owners of linen mills, two clergy and three ladies, Miss Carlton, Mrs Hadden and Mrs O’Hanlon.

The 30 members elected onto the general committee that evening included school principals, doctors, business and professional men and women, plus wives of eminent residents of the town.

The aim of the new body was ‘to encourage the study and cultivation of music and the art of elocution’, however it was decided to confine the first festival to music and postpone elocution competitions until the following year.

Admission to the festival was to be one shilling with the gala concert tickets priced at three shillings and it was highly recommended that those planning to attend should book in advance through Mr Edgar’s hardware shop.

Records show that interest in the elocution classes increased from 69 in the first year to 107 the following year and by 1926, the festival of Music and Elocution was running for six days.

The first Irish Folk Dancing Festival was held in 1929 and at one stage entries for this were so large that two adjudicators had to be engaged. Unfortunately various complications in 1941 meant that the folk dancing classes were no longer available. However, 10 years later in 1951, Mr Brian Coleman, a champion dancer himself, took on the role of honorary secretary and the folk dancing section was restored to its former proud place in the Portadown Festival calendar.

The addition of the drama section in 1937 was thanks largely to the tremendous work done by local businessmen Harold and Bertie Martin with Bertie, for five years acting as stage director. In 1942 this section had to be suspended because groups were not travelling during the war, however the music and verse speaking sections continued uninterrupted through this difficult time, with Portadown Festival having the dubious distinction of holding the first war-time festival in Ireland under blackout conditions.

By 1949 the drama section was back in full swing resulting in the festival name being changed to Portadown Music and Drama Festival Association. 1947 saw the introduction of the ballet section – the name has since been changed to ‘dance’ as it incorporates such a very wide genre of the art form.

This hugely popular section has an enormously high standard of performance, especially in the group work and is commented on by all adjudicators as equalling anything that one would see on a London stage.

In 1999 Portadown was the only non-Scottish festival, affiliated to the British and International Federation of Festivals, to have a Highland Dance Festival. The organisers felt extremely fortunate that the Town Hall could be adapted to accommodate this section. Unfortunately after 15 years it felt it was no longer possible to continue.

In 1953, honorary secretaries were appointed for all sections of the festival, and so the entirely voluntary organisation as it is today was established.

During the Troubles, the Portadown area gained quite an unfortunate reputation due to news coverage, however visiting adjudicators were astounded to find a cross-community event of such magnitude taking place in the town. Despite a number of bomb scares and an explosion during the speech festival, which did enormous damage to the town, the event simply moved from the damaged Town Hall to Thomas Street Methodist Church Hall for a couple of days, and continued as normal.

The success of the festival is a result of an enormous amount of detailed planning and organisation behind the scenes. Adjudicators are often booked three or four years in advance and next year’s festival is being planned before the current event has even started.

A spokesperson for the festival association said: “We are enormously encouraged by the support of teachers, performers and parents who appreciate the platform we provide for the performing arts. However, without the financial support of Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, our sponsors, individuals, and the business community of Portadown, we would find it difficult to survive.

"The members of Portadown Festival take great pride in the association, and look forward to providing a platform for competitors in all the performing art forms for very many years to come.”